WarSclerotic

This event was nothing new. Since the early 1980s, on every Nov. 4, thousands of Iranians demonstrate outside the former U.S. embassy in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the taking of the American hostages, who were held for 444 days.

The ritual is familiar: hateful speeches by Iranian leaders against the U.S. and Israel, chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” and the burning of U.S. and Israeli flags. Over the years, the demonstration has become routine, with the number of participants gradually decreasing.

But this year’s demonstration attracted special attention, for two reasons. First of all, it was the largest such demonstration in years, with tens of thousands of participants. And more importantly, it was held against the backdrop of the start of direct talks between the U.S. and Iran. Apparently, despite the improved atmosphere between the U.S. and Iran, someone at the top of the Iranian regime wanted to spoil the fun. The main address was delivered by former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and the regime certainly could have prevented a large demonstration had it wanted to.

The organized Iranian hatred of the U.S. and Israel is not natural. Iran was an ally of the U.S. until 1979 and the U.S. has never fought a war against Iran. The deaths of the few Iranians who have been killed by the U.S. were mostly unintentional. The same goes for Israel.

In contrast, Iraq launched a war against Iran at the start of the 1980s during which Iraq used chemical weapons and launched hundreds of missiles at Iran. At least 210,000 Iranians were killed. Yet the Iranian masses always chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” not “Death to Iraq.”

The anger toward the U.S. has two aspects. The first is ideological-religious. The Iranian regime and its supporters view the U.S. as the root of all evil in the world, and hostility toward the U.S. is one of the most prominent symbols of the Islamic Revolution. In their eyes, the West is the main source of the ills of Iranian society, and the U.S. is the spearhead of inferior Western culture.

The second level is the U.S. attitude toward Iran. The Iranian regime sees America as Iran’s greatest enemy. The U.S. seeks to topple the regime, it has imposed economic sanctions, it acts to thwart Iran’s influence in the Gulf region and it threatens to use military force against Iran.

Iranians have developed hostility and deep distrust toward Americans, partly fed by the U.S.’s negative attitude toward Iran. The rift with the U.S. since the revolution has caused enormous damage to Iran. The Western embargo on the transfer of arms to Iran was one of the main factors in Iran’s failures during the war against Iraq. The economic sanctions are severely harming the Iranian economy. The oil industry — the backbone of the Iranian economy — urgently needs Western investment and technology. Most of all, Iran has to deal with the fact that the superpower U.S. poses a strategic threat to it. Nevertheless, the Iranian government is deterred from improving its relations with the U.S. government, fearing that it would lose one of the most important symbols of the Islamic Revolution.

The recent start of talks with the U.S. was prompted by the painful sanctions. The Iranian regime must improve the country’s economic situation, and it is clear to the regime that the way to do this is by reaching an agreement on the nuclear issue, even if this requires concessions.

Despite this realization, the radical wing in Iran, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the heads of the Revolutionary Guard, are still driven by hostility and suspicion toward the U.S. and are willing to pay the price of the rift with it. That is why these elements prevented new Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, who is among those seeking dialogue with the U.S., from meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, not even for just a handshake.

The Revolutionary Guard even publicly warned Rouhani not to give in to the U.S. on the nuclear issue, and Khamenei stated that Rouhani’s phone call with Obama was a mistake. Furthermore, the radical wing was responsible for the demonstration in Tehran, which conveyed the message: Don’t go too far in the talks with the U.S.